I finally had a chance to meet with an orthopedic doctor about the possibility of needing surgery on my hip to repair my torn labrum. After being diagnosed in November with a torn labrum via an MRI, I put off meeting with an orthopedic doctor to find out is surgery was necessary because of not wanting to pay even more doctor bills. Finally enough was enough, and I made an appointment at the beginning of March to go see a specialist.
I wasn’t able to get in to see him until the end of April, but when the day finally came to meet with the doctor, I was hopeful for a diagnosis that wouldn’t result in surgery, but at the same time I was also expecting the worst. During the appointment, we talked through the last 10 months, he did some manual tests on my hip, and I told him I’d been running pain-free for a few weeks now.
He talked in length about the odd makeup of my hips in the fact the head of my femur isn’t as rounded as it should be and the acetabulum (“socket”) doesn’t encapsulated the femoral head (“ball”) as much as it should. He also noted that my socket is deeper than ideal. These are things that are genetic, so they can’t be changed, but they most likely contributed to the CAM lesion that formed on the femoral head and the impingement that then caused the labral tear.
The doctor did his manual tests for a labral tear, which all resulted in absolutely no pain. He said that since I am not having pain when running, I was able to run 30 miles last week, and race on it with no pain, he didn’t see a reason to do the surgery!
What a relief! Ten months of hip pain nearly killed me. (figuratively speaking, of course) I desperately missed getting up to train each day and have a purpose for each run. I missed feeling fit and fast! I was beyond frustrated at times, breaking down in tears and feeling like I would never be able to run again–especially since it went on for so long!
I’ve had almost a month of pain-free runs, two successful races with no pain, and I’m no longer constantly thinking about my hip pain when I run anymore!
I’m starting to plan out my races for the summer and to see if I can run a half marathon or two. (Definitely no marathons anytime soon!) While I should be in the best shape of my life right now going into this season of summer racing in Alaska, I am not. I am still going to train as much as I can and try to run as many races as I can. I’m not sure what this summer holds, but I am going to enjoy every pain-free step!
Hi – I’ve recently been diagnosed with a labral tear as well. Do you have a post on your blog on what you did to get back to running? I’ve been pretty inspired by what you’ve been able to do in the last year and I hope I can do the same. Some suggestions on rest/cross-training/recovery-methods/physical-therapy/etc would be awesome.
I talked a little bit about what ultimately helped in this post: http://www.therunnersplate.com/2017/06/01/getting-back-in-the-groove/
I found a lot of relief with ART (active release technique). My steroid injection also helped for about 3 months. Finally, I also did do a lot of glute and hip strengthening exercises from the PT. Hope that helps!
I’m at month 10 of hip pain too and have a labrum tear. None of my symptoms are that of the tear. I’m so frustrated but your story is really helping me have hope. I’m scared to try and injection but maybe that will help.
Why are you scared to try an injection? I don’t think there are many drawbacks!
Hello! I am going on 10 months too. The pain is still there and I’m running here and there for about 2 to 3 miles and I have pain afterwards. I have tried prolotherapy aka dextrose shots for pain (3 sessions), PT (8 sessions), platelet rich plasmas injections (2 of them and super painful), and still I have no relief. I am going to try a cortisone shot now and maybe dry needling. I miss running so, so much 🙁
I’m so sorry–my heart goes out to you.